All That Matters
by Ziggimaguagua
Summary: 30 drabbles, not written for the 30 shards LJ comunity, but using their themes. Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.
1. Future

Story disclaimer: All credits for the characters and the universe go to Rumiko Takahashi. Credits for the shards go to hana_ginkawa (I think...) at LJ.

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #3 - Fate  
Title: Future  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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He is seven years old and his sister is a hero.

He's been thinking a lot and he knows exactly what he's going to do when he grows up, he's got it all figured out, but he and Mama never quite seem to speak the same language when talking about things like 'life' and 'fate'.

She talks about completing high school, getting a job, getting married, leading a quiet, fulfilling life and she's very persistent. She truly believes that's the meaning of life.

But he knows better. And she can't stop him from dreaming about magic jewels and enchanted wells.

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A/N:  
30 drabbles written over the 30 themes of the 30 Shards LJ comunity. I don't know how LJ works, so I won't be uploading them there, I just borrowed the themes (without permission. Sue me.)  
The drabbles are written chronologically (Souta is youngest in the first and oldest in the last), but how much time passes between each is up to you to decide for yourself.  
Personally I don't like all of them, I found some of the themes pretty hard to work with, but in some I think I managed allright.  
I've got about two thirds of the whole written and (just in case anyone cares) I think I'll be updating one every weekday. That'll give me plenty of time to finish the rest and keep a regular update schedule.  
I'll be making only few additional notes, but as always thank you for reading my stories and please review :-) especially grammar/spelling corrections (and notes on my general language use) are welcome, since I don't have a beta and English isn't my first language (as you've probably noticed).  
Again, thank you for reading :-)

~ Ziggini


	2. Not Really Ordinary

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #9 - Sunset  
Title: Not Really Ordinary  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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InuYasha comes for a visit one night and that's not unusual. Except Kagome says he's there to relax, for once, and he doesn't relax at all and Souta thinks that's strange until sunset when InuYasha's suddenly not a demon anymore.

Souta doesn't like that because his inu no nii-chan is a hero, and if he's just an ordinary nii-chan, how can he be as cool as a real hanyou?

He gawks, InuYasha snorts and glares and acts like he always does and it is ok, then.

Because human or no, _his_ nii-chan is still anything but ordinary.

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Japanese lesson for the day (brought on by the fact that I'm too lazy to make the word count fit in English, too.):

InuYasha literally means "super dog" (or something like that) and "inu no nii-chan" is basically a cute, childish way of saying "older brother (who's a dog)". (inu - dog, nii-chan - older brother, no - ...)  
(Though if InuYasha was an even remotely realistic manga Souta would probably be calling him "onii-san", which is the appropriate (and much more respectful) way of addressing young men older than yourself.)

A hanyou is a half demon (han - half, you - short for youkai - demon).


	3. Torn

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #7 - Longing  
Title: Torn  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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He suddenly doesn't know how to talk to his friends.

They talk about soccer or school or who's got the coolest lego castle at home, and his life is so different from theirs, it's almost painful. Though he wants to be normal, the world on the other side is so alluring, and even when he can't be part of the normal, non-magical world and can't _visit_ the other, he's still torn between the two.

With his sister caught in a magical war and his friends so hopelessly ordinary, he feels trapped in between. He suddenly just longs to _belong_.


	4. Awakening

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #15 - Fear  
Title: Awakening  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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When he was smaller he'd sometimes be afraid of the dark. Mostly it was after watching a scary movie, but sometimes it was just when he woke up at night and thought he'd heard something.

Now he thinks he never knew fear back then. He didn't know what it was like to really, truly fear for his life.

Then came the Noh-mask, and now he knows fear. He'll never forget what it felt like, running from that monster.

After that, probably because of it, he can't imagine how she's able to face that feeling every day of her travels.


	5. Dreams

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #6 - Victory  
Title: Dreams  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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When she stops coming back home he goes through the well and rescues her and brings her home.

He runs through forests, swims across rivers, fights his way past demons and soars, on great, borrowed wings, across the sky, and she is in his arms, both of them laughing and screaming from the rush of the victory, the end of the quest, the end of the nightmare, the way _home_.

In those fevered moments after he wakes he does not know if it is he, or his long gone sister, who is farthest from what he used to call Reality.


	6. Solemn

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #18 - Gift  
Title: Solemn  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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His classmates are playing samurai.

They have stick swords and they run and jump and cry out orders at each other and _you're dead!_ someone cries, and Souta watches.

"What a solemn little boy," a teacher says, smiling. "Go play with the others, sweetie." But he doesn't want to.

He saw a monster once. It was made of humans and it was cut open with a sword, and it wasn't a game at all, and now he doesn't like killing _anything_, even if they're only playing.

Life's a gift, he's decided, and he can't take it lightly anymore.


	7. Echoes

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #14 – Whisper  
Title: Echoes  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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He talks to her sometimes. Alone in the darkness of his room he says her name over and over until he falls asleep, tears drying on his cheeks.

In his dreams she talks back, comforts him, lets him understand _why._

When he wakes he never remembers her reasons.

The answer is sometimes there, sometimes gone, but always the echo is lingering, whispered reassurances that _everything will be okay_, though he can't remember how anymore.

She used to tell him, when she was alive. He remembers. _Everything will be okay_. He believed. But now, without her, these hollow echoes aren't enough.

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Ack . I just found out I've been misspelling "echo" the whole way through! Darn it!  
Well, it's fixed now. (I _so_ need a beta.) Sorry 'bout that.


	8. Crying

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #21 - Hope  
Title: Crying  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 150

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365 days after his sister is reported missing she is declared dead.

It is all formalities, he knows, but that doesn't stop him from crying. He tries not to, he's a big boy, nine years old, but when Mama starts he can't hold it back. They both cry when they leave that terrible office with the apologetic ladies to go to the undertaker where they cry again.

They have a tombstone made for her and they place it at the cemetery beside her ancestors, and they all cry, all the gathered Higurashis, all the friends from school, all the neighbours.

At the brief, closed ceremony, held at the well, her real grave, as Jii-san says a final prayer for her soul to reach the afterlife unharmed and at peace, he feels the last bit of hope he had flutter and disappear and the tears stop.

They don't matter anymore.


	9. Normal

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #25 - Lies  
Title: Normal  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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"Must have been the leukemia..."

"...pneumonia ..."

"... that, or maybe a mix..."

"... but she had such poor health, we might never know..."

He listens to his more distant relatives as they chatter and discuss. They are uncaring, except for the interest in finding out what really happened. Where is her body? Where would she go on her own? And with such poor health! She shouldn't have been allowed out of bed!

It's all sickening, but he doesn't know which is worse anymore. The lies or the truth. At least, with these lies, his family is normal, if only on the outside.


	10. Prayers

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #24 - Death  
Title: Prayers  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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A small house shrine for his sister has been placed on the living room wall next to the one dedicated to his grandmother and the one for his father.

Guests come by from time to time to give their condolences, show their sympathy, maybe say a short prayer, and whenever they pray, he leaves the room.

He can see them leave from the window in his room, them feeling better about themselves, him feeling worse both for himself and them.

His sister didn't die last year, she died five hundred years ago. The prayers are five hundred years too late.


	11. Temporary Replacement

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #16 - Friendship  
Title: Temporary Replacement  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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They used to come by from time to time to chatter and gossip and when she wasn't there, they'd tell it all to him and ask him to pass on the information when she got better.

Sometimes it felt as though he was a replacement for her. Or maybe a medium. They talked to him, he made something up about her, and gave them the 'news' on her latest 'illness'.

Now that they know she's gone, they've stopped coming by, and, though he knows it's silly, he kind of misses the three girls and the friendship he never really had.


	12. Breathing

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #27 - Laughter  
Title: Breathing  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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A magician is making his way across the stage and everyone in the tent holds their breaths - quiet, quiet, quiet - until a clown pops out of nowhere and trips him and all the tension explodes in delighted laughter.

Souta stops as abruptly as he started. Both embarrassed and horrified, hands clasped over his mouth. He hasn't laughed like that since... not since...

But the world stays in place. No one starts screaming, no one's even looking at him and he feels somewhat giddy and relieved, as if a pressure was lifted from his chest the moment he unknowingly let go.


	13. Mission

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #20 - Courage  
Title: Mission  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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She was courageous, she never refused a challenge, she kept going through that well because she had a mission. A _Something She Needed to Do_. Her courage and her will kept her going through the bad times, she'd told him so herself.

He needed to bring her back, had a _Something He Needed to Do._ He was brave enough to do it. He was determined.

Sitting at the bottom of the dry well, ankle the size of a softball, tears and snot running down his face, he thinks to himself that courage is doing him a fat lot of good.


	14. Role Model

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #2 - Juggling  
Title: Role Model  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 150

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He wants to do good in school (or rather, _Mama_ wants him to do good in school, so he sorta wants it too) and help Jii-san out, but he also wants money, and working in the shrine shop or doing homework isn't really helping with that, so he gets a job.

Juggling homework, work in the shop _and_ a paper route isn't really easy, though, and for a while he makes a scene every Saturday morning when Mama wakes him early.

Then he remembers _her_ and the way she used to sit up all night to do a paper, then go off early the next morning to fight monsters and save the world and he feels just a little selfish and spoiled.

She complained about early mornings and late nights, but she _went_. His situation is vastly different, but still... That's the thought that gets him up most mornings.


	15. If Only

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #12 - Advice  
Title: If Only  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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"Don't go down there," he says. It comes out a bit sterner, louder, harsher, than he intended and the little boy standing at the door to the well house starts and turns, looking frightened. Still Souta can't make himself care about startling him. He'd have much more to be scared of if he went in there and something happened. _Stay away from the well house_, is a piece of advice Souta will never stop handing out. There's been no demons there for a good many years, but it's still too important.

If only he had followed it himself, back then.


	16. Expectations

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #29 - Anniversary  
Title: Expectations  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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Ten years ago Kagome fell through the well for the first time.

Souta feels something should be special about the day, but the world seems to disagree. Nothing extraordinary has happened.

At first he tries to pretend that he isn't staying close to the well, but he's running out of cores to do there, so in the end he gives up and sits down on the steps.

It's their last chance. If fate's going to give her back it's gotta be today. Kagome's life was like that. Story-like.

In the end he'll end up miserably disappointed, he already knows.


	17. Marbles

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #22 – Jewel  
Title: Marbles  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 150

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"That'll be 350 yen, please," he says and hands a small bag over the counter. "This will guarantee your family's future health and prosperity." The words make his stomach churn, but he has learned to smile through it.

Working in the shrine shop, these trinkets are what he hates the most. People placing their faith in the little plastic marbles, copies of one unique piece of incarnated destruction.

In the shrine legends the jewel is a good thing. It brings life, prosperity, good health and protection. He sometimes wonders what happened to end the quest and how the stories got turned inside out in this way that makes people worship the main cause of his sister's death.

Or maybe her reason to live. He doesn't know which it is anymore. Lately he's been remembering how happy she was in those years. How she looked at those real shards and smiled.


	18. Soldier

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #10 - Weapon  
Title: Soldier  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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He thinks of becoming a doctor.

In his mind, doctors are soldiers in the war against death. Curing illnesses, healing wounds, he imagines they must feel adept, powerful, in control, and he wants that.

Knowledge is the greatest weapon, but despite her, apparently many, illnesses, his sister didn't die from anything curable. Even knowing how to get through the well, he would lack the powers necessary to do so.

Time and magic have combined their forces and there is no weapon against that, at least not any he knows to wield.

Sitting next to the well, he feels hopelessly inept.


	19. Killing Doubts

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #17 – Soul  
Title: Killing Doubts  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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Someone's gotta be at fault, he decides. Someone's to blame and they should stand up and admit it and maybe that would make him feel better.

He wonders if _Kagome_ did something wrong to deserve all that crap karma served her, but he can't really come up with anything.

But maybe she hadn't done anything wrong. She talked a lot about reincarnations and stuff, maybe she'd just inherited an unfortunate soul.

Maybe.

But who knows with that stuff, anyway? It's not like anyone lives to tell.

He doesn't like those thoughts, so in the end he decides to just believe.


	20. Justice

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #23 – Karma  
Title: Justice  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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At the beginning of her travels Kagome used to say the jewel was the cause of all her troubles, but later it was a demon named Sesshoumaru and then the woman Kikyou and someone named Naraku and maybe she just liked to rant about obstacles in her life.

She'd been like that sometimes.

And besides, many times in between the others _InuYasha_ had seemed to be the big problem and Souta still hopes she'd never really meant that seriously.

Whoever _was_ responsible, whether they admit it or not, Souta decides karma really should do some work on those real villains.


	21. Knowing

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #1 – Legend  
Title: Knowing  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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He has been studying, is studying, will be studying until he finds. And then he does find. Eyes zipping through scrolls old as the shrine itself, catching words before releasing them, over and over, until '_jewel' _and he slows down.

'_A priestess, so good and kind, her heart would open to anyone' _... '_love with a human of demon heritage, whose heart was so closed only she could pry it open'_ ... '_jewel' _... '_quest' _...

He reads on through more scrolls, more stories, more battles until he reaches the one he is truly looking for: The'_end_'. The '_ever after_'.

And he smiles.


	22. Fireworks

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #11 - Magic  
Title: Fireworks  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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"Now! Lookit, lookit!"

"It's gonna-"

"Wooow!"

"It's _magic_!"

He chuckles as he watches the smaller kids marvel at the sputtering fireworks and, though he still thinks they _are_ kind of cool, he's big enough to know that fireworks are made of gunpowder and different kinds of metal that burns with different colours and, though cool, that's hardly magic.

He thinks of Inu no nii-chan, of blue, sparkling light swallowing his sister and spewing her back out, of the cursed Noh-mask and the magical sword, and he smiles at the kids and shakes his head. _If only they knew..._


	23. Empty

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #8 - Revenge  
Title: Empty  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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He glares at the well, but it ignores him. Sometimes he yells at it, but it gives no answer, other than the echo of his own angry cries, hollowed out by square meters of dry, dead stone and cold, empty, unbreachable centuries.

One day he throws a stone at it. He throws hard and it ricochets from side to side (he can hear the clacks and clanks) on its way down. Then the dump noise of it hitting dirt at the bottom.

_Ha_, he thinks, then he says it out loud. "Ha."

It still doesn't make him feel any better.


	24. Nightmares

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #19 - Jealousy  
Title: Nightmares  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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He remembers, sometimes, that he used to want what she had.

He used to dream about jumping through the magical well into a time of heroes and adventures, dream of fighting demons, saving the world, becoming known to all for his outstanding courage and generosity, like he imagined she was.

Now, when he sleeps, he has nightmares of being torn apart by monsters or he watches her in his dreams; sees her die by the hands of monstrous, rampaging creatures.

And, when he opens his eyes and lie awake for hours at end, he isn't so jalous of her anymore.

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A/N: Lots of thank yous to Diary-chan :D for reviewing and making med happeeee ^_^


	25. Flying

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #26 – Travel  
Title: Flying  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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3.000 feet off the ground and still rising Souta looks at the small informative screen and thinks of his sister.

500 years ago there were no aeroplanes, no trains and no cars. All travel was by foot, horse carriage or, in his sister's case, by bicycle.

He remembers her taking long, hot baths to soothe sore muscles and wonders what it was like to travel from Tokyo to Hokkaido.

Except, of course, she rarely used that bike in the end.

He laughs suddenly. What would InuYasha say if anyone ever told him he was one of the earliest vehicles invented?

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A/N: That's s'posed to be funneh, btw ~_^ please let me know if I managed to make you smile :-)  
I know it's not exactly right to call IY a _vehicle_, since he's not in any way mechanical (which is apparently required for him to fit the exact definition), but let's just pretend Souta doesn't know, ne?  
And if he _does_ know, lets pretend he also knows a little Danish culture stuff. We like to say that kids have rye bread engines ^_^ (we eat a lot of rye bread in Denmark. More than in any other country (I think).)  
Am I being random...?

Anyway! This is the last chapter I'm writing! I've done all thirty shards now ^_^ So no more!


	26. Futile

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #4 - Kiss  
Title: Futile  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 250

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A nurse comes out of the room and invites him in, and he jumps out of his seat. For the past three hours he's been ready to do anything to just make Machiko's screams _stop_, and he nearly can't believe it's finally over.

Rubbing his sweaty palms against his trousers he walks through the door, afraid of what he'll find, but it's nothing but big smiles and white linen. No more agonizing screams, no blood, and the only tears in his wife's eyes are of happiness.

For the past nine months he's been in near constant awe of the female body and its workings, and now, watching the outcome, he's completely speechless.

Shuffling forward, not sure what to do, he's encouraged by Machiko's warm smile, and when she lifts up the soft bundle in her arms he takes it and he's holding his daughter for the first time.

His first thoughts are of panicked fear. '_I'm too young for this!_' He can't even imagine what it's going to take to keep a fragile little girl like this safe.

But his thoughts settle quickly. '_Whatever it takes..._'

She squirms in his arms and he hands her back, watching Machiko press a soft kiss to her forehead before settling her at a naked breast.

Then he thinks of his own mother, and her daughter, and his face falls. '_What if it isn't enough_?'

And, pressing his own welcoming kiss to his daughters forehead, he makes a futile oath to never say goodbye.


	27. Telling Tales

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #28 - Secrets  
Title: Telling Tales  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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He's been keeping secrets nearly all his life, and it feels so good to finally tell someone, he doesn't care they don't believe him.

So he tells and tells and tells and when he runs out of true stories he keeps telling, just because it feels so nice and nobody can tell the difference between fantasy and the reality he's talking about anyway.

And always, after a story, he ends it with the same words. A true, but meaningless thing: "But don't tell anyone... It's a secret!"

He whispers it conspiratorially, and his children giggle, delighted with the fantastical stories.


	28. Trust

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #13 - Rain  
Title: Trust  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 100

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On rainy days he likes to sit inside, preferably with Machiko bustling around in the kitchen and the kids playing around him. He feels peaceful there, safe from the world raging outside.

Sometimes he thinks of his sister, then. Five hundred years ago there were no central heating systems, no kotatsu, no tea kettles, and he wonders how she manages now.

She's probably figured something out, but the shampoo, the ramen, gas for the portable jet... all the modern necessities she used to bring must be long gone.

But then again... She has InuYasha. He probably doesn't need to worry.


	29. Second

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #30 - Festival  
Title: Second  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 150

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He is looking at Kagome.

She is not the first Kagome, but '_she brings me as much joy_,' he thinks. Age has been eating at his mind for a while, but his most joyful memories are last to leave.

Kagome dances for him and her new yukata flows elegantly around her despite the clumsy, energetic movements. He smiles. _Grandchildren_, he thinks. _Kagome would have loved them, too_. But he does not dwell on his sister, turning his mind to the Kagome on her way to Shichi-Go-San for the first time. Excited already, by the clothes, the fussing and hurrying.

He wishes, somewhere in the back of his mind, that he could take part in the festivities, but his joints are bend with gout and he lets her mother, his daughter, take her hand and lead her away.

She is the Second Kagome, but here, in his heart, second to none.

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S/A/N: I fixed it ^_^ Much better now.

Yukata – a thin summer kimono. Literally "bath(ing) wear", though they are used at holidays, too. I'm not sure if it's appropriate here, though.  
Shichi-Go-San – a childrens' festival for seven-, five- and three-year-olds (hence the name Seven-Five-Three).


	30. All That Matters

Written for the LJ-community 30 shards.  
Character(s): Souta  
Summary: Bits and pieces of a forgotten character's struggle to accept his sister's life and death.  
Shard: #5 - Memories  
Title: All That Matters  
Author: Ziggimaguagua  
Word count: 250

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZ

He doesn't remember very many things anymore. People tell him so. He doesn't remember who, though.

He remembers his grandchildren and he remembers telling them stories. They used to like that, but now they don't. They say they are too old to believe his silly fairytales.

He doesn't think they are silly, though, he thinks they are true, but nobody believes him, and maybe he's just confused, like they say.

He certainly is old, he knows that. Old and maybe confused, he doesn't like that very much, but there's nothing he can do about it.

He remembers his sister, he's sure of that. She was a priestess, she fought demons, she died in another world, he's _sure_.

But the people at the nursing home don't believe him. They never believe him and he's beginning to not believe himself either.

His sister died from leukemia. Or she was swallowed by a magical well. Or she died from leukemia...

He's beginning to find it hard to get a hold of reality. He thinks he knows things and then he suddenly doesn't. Everything is changing too fast for him to keep up, and even the simplest tasks are becoming difficult.

In the end he decides to hold on to the few things no one but he can decide or change. He loves his children and their children, he loved his wife and his mother and his grandfather and, no matter how she lived or died, he loved his sister.

That's all that matters.

ZzZzZzZzZzZzZ

A/N:  
Well... That's it :) The very end of Souta's life (or the last we're going to hear of it, at least). Hope you enjoyed reading it.

Please leave a review and tell me what you thought about it. I know my writing can use some improvement and I'd love to get a few pointers on where to start working :) and on the stories, too, of course, and plot (or the lack of it, rather... was that ok? I was sort of trying to go for a "normal life" feel. And normal lives tend to have no plot at all.)

Btw: I'll be starting a new Souta-story soon, this one more... story-like. Longer. :D So go take a look at my profile, if you liked this.

(Or maybe... It's gonna be a lot different... but go look if you like Souta :D and Sesshoumaru ^_^ )

That's all for now :) bye-byes


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